Court Watching: Thomas Cahill bound over for homicide, co-defendant freed

Thomas Charles Cahill, 22, a Sumpter Township resident who is charged with the bludgeoning murder of his grandfather, has been bound over to Wayne County Circuit Court for trial.
At a 90-minute preliminary exam on the afternoon of Jan. 11, 34th District Court Judge Brian A. Oakley found there was enough evidence to bind Cahill over on charges of homicide, torture, attempted arson, larceny in a building, and stealing a credit card, all on Dec. 2 in Sumpter Township.
The defendant’s grandfather, Charles James Cahill, 82, died of his injuries on Dec. 23 and so the previous first charge of “assault with intent to murder” against Thomas Cahill was upgraded to homicide.
His co-defendant Chanice Khadish Letang, 20, was charged with accessory after the fact to a felony, but Judge Oakley found there was not enough evidence to bind her over for trial, so that charge was dismissed. She was defended by retained attorney Jill Schinske.
Letang was free after posting bond of $10,000/10%, but Thomas Cahill has been in the Wayne County Jail without bond since his arrest Dec. 3. Thomas Cahill’s court-appointed attorney is Luther Glenn.
The preliminary exam before Judge Oakley began with the first witness, Sumpter Township Officer Colleen Carefelle, telling how she was dispatched to 25 E. Arizona in Holiday West mobile home park with her partner Officer Christopher Herrick at 8:43 p.m., Dec. 2. She testified that dispatch said a male was having a possible stroke and bleeding from the head.
When she knocked on the door, Angela Morris told her to come in and she smelled a strong odor of gasoline, she said. Charles Cahill was sitting in a chair, slumped over, with dry blood all over his face and a large gash on his head, Carefelle testified. She said blood was dripping from his head and brain matter was on the coffee table and floor.
She said he was alert and talking when she arrived. She said she asked him if he had fallen and she couldn’t understand his reply. Then he yelled out “Tommy” twice.
That’s when Officer Herrick started to look for Thomas Cahill, who lived in the home with his grandfather and Morris. Carefelle said Morris stayed in a bedroom with a lock on the door.
Carefelle said she saw a hammer submerged in water in the sink in the kitchen. Michigan State Police were called to the scene to collect evidence and they collected the hammer, bagged it, and gave it to Carefelle. A gas can from the enclosed porch also was collected by MSP and bagged as evidence. Carefelle testified about a charred welcome mat and a battery charger that was knocked over on the porch. MSP also took pictures.
Carefelle said a fire fighter pointed out a cigarette butt on Cahill’s lap. She said Morris’ room was closed and locked.
Charles Cahill was transported to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital by Huron Valley Ambulance, Carefelle said.
The second witness was Sumpter Police Sgt. Christopher McGlynn who was sent to the hospital to pick up the belongings of the victim at 7 a.m., Dec. 3. He testified he could smell gasoline from the several paper bags he was given. He said the bags were secured in Lt. Patrick Gannon’s office and later the items were put into 11 different bags, processed and tabulated, and put into the evidence room. Gannon is the evidence officer, he said.
The third witness was Sumpter Officer Joseph Balowski who was called in on Dec. 3. He said he and Sumpter Detective John Toth put out a BOL (be on the lookout) for the Kia driven by Letang, Thomas Cahill’s girlfriend. They had already talked to Letang’s adoptive mother who lives in Van Buren Township. Balowski testified that a VBT police unit found the car at the Red Roof Inn.
Det. Toth got the ledger from the motel and located Letang in room 239, Balowski testified. He said he did a loud “police knock” on the door and after about two minutes Thomas Cahill opened the door. Balowski said he asked him to step out of the room and for permission to pat him down and he complied. He had no weapon and there was no blood on him, Balowski said.
He testified Letang was there and he searched the room with Letang’s consent, since she had booked the room, and recovered a green towel from a rack by the bathroom door with a 3-4” smeared circle stain believed to be blood. It was not a hotel towel. He said he also found clothing in the northwest corner of the room behind a chair. It was male work clothing from Salisbury Landscaping, where Thomas Cahill had worked and in later questioning said he had quit. Multiple small stains appearing to be blood were on the jeans.
Balowski also testified he went inside the Kia in the parking lot with the permission of Letang and found what appeared to be blood on the passenger seat, between the size of a quarter and a dime.
Letang drove her car behind police cars to the Sumpter station to voluntarily discuss the situation and Thomas Cahill asked for a ride with police to come in for questioning, and Officer Beth Egerer gave him a ride, Balowski said.
Det. Toth was the third witness, testifying he was at home that night and came to 25 E. Arizona 30 minutes into the incident. He said he saw the ambulance drive off with the victim.
Toth testified he observed “brain blood” all over the coffee table next to the La-Z-Boy chair and on the floor. He said he saw what he believed to be skull fragments on the floor. He explained brain blood is more raised than regular blood. He also saw the charred black welcome mat and noticed the strong smell of the gas. He said he went to look at the hammer in the dirty dish water in the sink and almost fell down because the linoleum on the entire kitchen floor was slippery.
Toth said they tried to find Thomas Cahill to see what he was up to during this time and they were looking for him and his girlfriend. He said they were given information by Letang’s adoptive mother that the couple was at the Westland Motel 6, but they found there is no Motel 6 in Westland. That’s when VBT police located them at the Red Roof Inn.
Toth said neither Thomas Cahill nor his girlfriend were suspects at the time. Toth said he advised Letang of her rights and she said she gave Thomas Cahill a ride, leaving work early at 2:45 p.m. and picking him up at his home at 3 p.m. She said they went to Taco Bell, Walmart, Red Roof Inn, Walmart, and Red Roof Inn. Toth said she paid for the room with her cash.
Toth said at a later time she said Thomas Cahill came out of his home with a clear trash bag over his shoulder with clothing that belonged to somebody else. They drove to his biological brother’s home on Rawsonville Road and put the bag in the passenger side of a red truck his brother was going to buy. Toth said he took out a backpack.
Toth said Letang indicated Thomas was moving out and she had visited with Charles Cahill for a time.
Toth said, when she was arrested, she said it actually was a day or two prior when she had spent the night and visited with Charles.
Toth said he interviewed Thomas Cahill twice and the second time, on Dec. 4, he was arrested. That’s when Thomas said he wanted to make a statement and, Toth said, “He appeared to be coming to terms with what he had done.”
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Latoya Willis made a motion to show to the court the statement Thomas Cahill made via video and both defense attorneys agreed as long as it was just for this exam. Judge Oakley agreed and the video was shown to the court.
The video showed Toth reading Thomas Cahill his Miranda Rights, sentence by sentence, with Thomas saying he understood and then initialing each sentence. He is shown seated at a table on Dec. 4.
“I could go away for life,” Thomas said to Toth on the video and Toth replied, “He’s not dead.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Thomas said.
“Felony murder is life in prison,” Toth said. “I don’t know your criminal history, anyway.”
Thomas listed his offenses, adding, “There’s no hope for me.”
“Why did you do that?” Toth asked.
“I got tired of being touched,” Thomas said. “He’s a f—-n sex offender, man.” Thomas told of his grandfather watching when he showered. “I never saw it coming. He never tried to penetrate.
“I just lost control and I was doing drugs, too,” he said. “I hit him in the head with a hammer.” He said he hit him three times with a hammer.
He said he went to work and quit. “Nothing lined up.”
Toth asked if words were exchanged and Thomas said there was no argument.
“I’m no good. Just like my father,” Thomas said.
When that portion of the statement concluded, the video was turned off in the courtroom.
Prosecutor Willis said the Chase credit card owned by Charles Cahill has never been recovered.
Under cross-examination by Schinske, Toth said VBT Officer Chris Hayes located the Kia and Sgt. Michael Papin was there at the motel with a bunch of VBT officers – about five — he didn’t know.
Toth also said they have no results from the MSP lab as yet on the stains or other evidence.
All officers testified they wore gloves for everything handled and Toth said they all had their body cameras rolling throughout.
Schinske pointed out Letang was cooperative and drove to the police station for questioning. Toth said Letang gave police her cell phone, but no one reviewed her phone or text messages.
In giving her argument to bind Letang over to circuit court, Willis said she picked Thomas up at the victim’s home but there is a question if she went inside. At the Red Roof Inn police found a towel with blood and clothing with blood, plus blood inside her vehicle.
“It shows she probably had an idea of what went on,” Willis said.
Schinske said Letang picked him up and drove him around, but there is no evidence she was assisting him to avoid police.
“She gave consent to police to come into the hotel room, gave her phone to police, gave her car to search and went to the police department and talked to police,” Schinske said.
Schinske said the prosecutor said she probably had an idea of what went on, but, “Nothing shows she had knowledge,” noting even Thomas Cahill said on the videotape that Letang didn’t know what had happened. “You can refile if there’s more evidence,” she said.
Judge Oakley bound Thomas Cahill over on five counts and said he agrees with Schinske that there was not probable cause on Letang and her charge was dismissed.
Thomas Cahill was scheduled for a Jan. 18 arraignment on the information at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.